Andy Beech

American luthier, maker of electric guitars and basses, and guitarist (b. 30 April 1965, Maple Falls, Washington). Andy Beech is best known for extensively collaborating with Zakk Wylde and building numerous guitars for Prince. In the early 1980s, he founded D'Haitre' Guitars, currently based in Bellingham, WA. In May 2015, Beech launched the Janus Guitars series, developed in collaboration with Richie Faulkner of Judas Priest. He was a short-time member of the Seattle-based metal band Beltfed Weapon and played lead guitar on the EP released in October 2015. Andy Beech grew interested in woodwork since childhood, making his first instruments at 13. Circa 1985, Andy relocated to Los Angeles, California, and started working at a small guitar repair shop on Sunset Blvd. He soon befriended Zakk Wylde, subsequently hired as his guitar technician on several tours with Ozzy Osbourne, including the 1992 world tour in support of album. Beech designed a custom guitar for Wylde, known as "The Glory." In 2001, Andy Beech created original instruments for Zakk Wylde's character in a fictional band, Steel Dragon, for the Rock Star comedy starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston, written by John Stockwell and directed by Stephen Herek. Around 1993, after Prince's camp had fallen out with Knut-Koupeé Music store in Minneapolis — where Dave Rusan designed the iconic "Cloud" guitar in 1983 for the film and built three more instruments for subsequent live tours — they commissioned Andy Beech to build more Clouds based on the initial design. Reportedly, Beech had produced twenty-seven Cloud guitars, with some instruments rigged and further upgraded by Prince's guitar technician, Zeke Clark. Notably, Beech made a teal-colored Cloud, auctioned in 1994 to raise funds in the Los Angeles Earthquake's aftermath and resold at Julien's Auctions in November 2017 for a record-breaking $700,000. (According to some anecdotal sources, Beech also produced several Cloud guitars, rigged by Clark, sold at NPG Stores in the mid-1990s; a few ended up at Hard Rock Cafe.) In 1994, Andy Beech and Zeke Clark made several "Symbol" guitars, initially designed by German luthier Jerry Auerswald. One, in black, was played by Prince on The Ultimate Live Experience UK/European tour in March 1995 and used to record the '96 album. A second Symbol guitar, painted in white and later golden, was created for Emancipation (1996) and played on the Jam of the Year world tour in 1997, also used on The New Power Generation's third and final album, Newpower Soul. There are conflicting reports on one of Prince's most iconic and publicized "Symbol" guitars, in purple, played in February 2007 during the Super Bowl XLI halftime show. Beech claims it was one of his instruments, while other sources cite it as Schecter Habibi manufactured by Schecter Guitar Research (the company began working for Prince in 1997).